How I started out…

My introduction to surf photography started in my teens when I climbed the ladder of professional surfing. While besotted with surfing I always took a keen interest in the way my friends and mentors, Chris Van Lennep and Aaron Chang (in my mind the world’s two best surf photographers) prepared themselves and their cameras on a shoot. Their amazing work inspired me then and still does to this day.

And during my high school days my coveted Surfing Magazine collection had just as much importance as my school books. Unfortunately it wasn’t the editorial that I was most interested in. The awesome pictures held me in awe of each magazine and I’ve never had the guts to throw a magazine away ever since I bought my first copy at age 12.

Two years after I withdrew from the ASP World Tour at the age of 23 (in 1989) I was prompted to write a surfing column by another friend and mentor. Paul Naude (a leading surfer, photographer, journalist, publisher, surfboard manufacturer, shaper, designer, marketing guru and now president of Billabong USA) suggested that I write a weekly column in our local newspaper, The Daily News in Durban South Africa.

After the first column was published in early 1991 my sports editor, Mike Tarr, gave me the thumbs up to write the column on a weekly basis, which I still write to this very day. The only problem was I didn’t have any images to place alongside my copy. So the next thing I found myself doing was buying a camera (a Canon Eos 630 with a 100 - 300 mm lens) from traveling surfboard shaper Australian Nev Hyman who was in South Africa for business. This was in fact my second professional camera that I have owned – my first (a Yashica FXD Quartz) I won in a local pro am surfing event in Durban which traveled with me throughout my ASP World Tour career and captured many Kodak moments.

With my new EOS I’d shoot off the piers and wait to shoot the locals in the shore breaks, me knee deep on high tides of course, just to get as close to the action as possible. My images appeared in the local press, magazines and in surf industry ads.

From there on my quiver of cameras and lenses grew in proportion to my bank loans! Paul Naude gave me another break, this time on the international stage in Hawaii in 1996. Shortly after he emigrated from South Africa to the USA he set me up to shoot the Gotcha international surf team. My friendships with former pro surfers saw me land a few more major international contracts. This time Mike Parsons (Arnette Sunglasses), Shaun Tomson (O’Neill Surfwear) and Peter Townend (Rusty Surfwaer) provided me with further opportunities by allowing me to supply images for their advertising and promotional campaigns.

My work was used extensively to say the least. From magazines ads, to posters, to clothing, to catalogues and point of sale displays and more. Despite shooting full time in 1998 I still had a lot on my plate. I was writing for The Daily New as well as writing copy for the media officer for ASP Africa. I also owned a surf school and managed and coached several of South Africa’s up and coming professional surfers. (continued)